EA Sports College Football 25 review for PlayStation, Xbox

NCAA Football last saw a release in 2013, over ten years ago! Look at how different life was in 2013. Hugh Jackman was starring as Wolverine, The Rock was main eventing Wrestlemania, and even Katy Perry was releasing new music. Now wait a second it… all those things happened again this year, I guess it was meant to be that EA would return with College Football 25! The fan favorite franchise is back after years of legal issues and it seems like we finally have a happy middle ground so college athletes can see some form of compensation for being included in the game. You see, previously the franchise did not include real player names, but the likenesses did match the players and all one had to do was modify the rosters or download a completed roster and you would have all the athletes named.

As some of you may know that frequent the site, I am the resident football reviewer for the past nearly ten years that has been covering the annual release of Madden. You see, there hasn’t been any NFL licensed football titles in well over ten years and as I mentioned above there hasn’t been a college football game in nearly as long. So College Football 25 gave me some hope to breathe some new life into a genre that’s been kinda same old every year, with the exception of the graphical upgrades. I need to mention that I am not any sort of college football fan though. I do have a lengthy history of playing the older franchise releases, but I do not watch college football on the regular (as my wife has deemed the NFL to be MORE than enough). I will follow some of the athletes and the major stories of each season, but I do not pretend to be some diehard fan.

Let’s start with an item I like to point out year in and year out on Madden and my cries go unchanged every season… in game presentation. Now at this point I don’t know if licenses have lapsed or not (although I’m sure EA could open the purse strings if they have), but they used to have the rights to ESPN and some of the other official broadcast partners. Every year I scream at the clouds as to why they don’t use them for Madden and my screams go into the void. I had hoped maybe this issue would be corrected with College Football 25, as previous NCAA games did use the ESPN presentation, but yet again EA has left me arguing with the cloud. But maybe not so adamantly upset. You see the presentation, while not featuring any official broadcast logos or effects, is done extremely well. They have two separate teams of broadcast analysts to choose from, and the intros/cut are always very well done (including the in-game menus IMO). Maybe it’s that I’m so tired of the Madden menus and presentation being the same year in and year out, but I really felt sucked into the stadium in College Football 25.

Adding to being sucked into the stadium, we now have a loudness meter that will come on the screen during key moments of the game. That loudness makes the screen shake and it makes it more difficult for the road team, trying to really simulate that stadium environment for a traveling team. This and other college stadium staples are all present. Fight songs, of course mascots, and more. It really had me feeling like I was finally playing a new take on a simulation style football title. Then we dive into the playbooks and there’s a ton to choose from. This can be intimidating if you’re not a fan of an actual college program, as every team runs very different styles and it is not necessarily easy from a pick up and play perspective. As a person who follows a bit of college football, it took me a few games to wrap my head around which teams I wanted to use and what playbook styles, but once I did I had a blast. Also the AI will run the playbook and style as they should, especially with teams with hurry up offenses. This is a first for any football game (fairly certain).

Beyond the gameplay which was very refreshing to me, of course with some bugs and glitches along the way as to be expected with a first year product, the modes here are what every college football fan is really looking for. Dynasty, that right there… that’s your big boy. This is where I assume 90% of the player base will reside. You’re starting your own college program or building on the legacy of an existing college program, and doing as much or as little as you like to grow the legacy of the school year over year. Recruiting players, building your coaching style and of course playing out the season, there’s a ton to do here! Possibly even too much, especially for a non college football enthusiast like me.

You see I have no favorite college football team, but I live like 10 minutes away from the Rutgers Scarlet Knights stadium, so that became my team to build up. Rutgers isn’t a top team or even ranked currently so its a bit of an uphill battle, but who doesn’t like the underdog story? Having been to the stadium and living in the area it’s certainly cool to see the stadium represented properly and even the mentioning of Piscataway and New Jersey. It’s impressive the level of detail even for a school that is unranked. Now that doesn’t impress the recruits I’m trying to sway to become Scarlet Knights, but my play calling on the field hopefully would.

Dynasty without question is my go to mode, but for anyone that’s played an EA Sports release in the past 10 years you come to expect Ultimate Team mode, and that of course is here. Now why is this a point of emphasis you might ask? You see as I mentioned before it’s a pretty big deal that we have actual players in this return to college football, so those players will be included in Ultimate Team along with college legends that have agreed to be included. Making teams with the best of the past and present is a nice touch and being able to do it with the gameplay of College Football 25 is the sprinkle on top (sorry tried and true Madden gameplay, the bar is very high for this year, see you next month). Those are really the meat and potatoes here and while some might complain there’s not enough here, I say it’s still the first year returning back to a dormant franchise that has been away for over a decade, I can give some leash, especially based on how much fun I had playing College Football 25.

So there it is, the return of The Rock, Wolverine, Katy Perry and College Football video gaming. While I’m not a fan of Katy Perry (had to do some googling for my 2013 to 2024 connections clearly), I am happy to report that all these huge returns are successful and gratifying. EA Sports could have done the easiest thing and reskinned the Madden engine and this would have still sold millions, so for them to not take that route I think they should be commended. College Football 25 is a definite buy for the college and pro football fan alike. I’ll see everyone on the gridiron and look out for my Scarlet Knights!

Note: EA Sports provided us with a College Football 25 PS5 code for review purposes.